The ability to achieve Super-Short Takeoff and Landing (Super STOL) or Vertical/Short Takeoff and Landing (VSTOL) capability with fixed-wing aircraft has long been an attractive goal in the aerospace community. There are numerous benefits associated with very-short to zero-field-length operations of non-rotary-wing aircraft such as the development of a simple/reliable/effective personal and business-sized Super-STOL or VSTOL aircraft operating from remote or small sites as well as increasingly dense urban environments, or a military transport operating from small sites.
A Channel Wing (ChW) powered-lift aircraft provides some characteristics of Super STOL or VSTOL. Through use of the propeller slipstream, the Channel Wing developed by Willard Custer was able to achieve significant lift coefficient and efficient downward thrust deflection without varying the high-lift configuration geometry. The ChW aircraft places the propeller at the very trailing edge of the 180-degree arc circular channel in the wing. This location of the propeller and the propeller's inflow field increase the velocity over the channel's upper surface and augment the circulation and lift there in much the same manner as a moveable mechanical flap. Lift is also augmented by the deflected thrust slipstream behind the channel. However, the thrust deflection on this ChW aircraft itself was very limited until the channel was tilted to very high angle of attack, and this severely limited a pilot's visibility. This also caused severe flow separations and asymmetries, and flight control became very difficult if at all possible at these conditions.
The Ch W aircraft has a number of drawbacks associated with low-speed handling, cruise drag, stability & control, high-incidence operation, and one-engine-out scenarios, including, but not limited to:                higher drag from the channel surface area,        asymmetric thrust yields asymmetric moments and instability,        channel leading-edge and trailing-edge separation occurring at high angle of attack,        poor low-speed control from conventional aerodynamic surfaces operating at low dynamic pressures,        nose-down pitch from aft propeller loading on the wing,        non-uniform flow around the propeller at high angle of attack,        poor lift/drag ratio in cruise and climbing flight,        high-angle-of-attack operation could cause poor visibility and control, and        one-engine-out control problems.        
Another way to achieve Super STOL or VSTOL is to implement an outboard Circulation Control Wing/Upper Surface Blowing (CCW/USB) system that has high jet-induced thrust deflection. Typically, this CCW/USB system includes an engine and exhaust nozzle over the wing which squashes a circular jet thrust into a flattened exhaust stream. The CCW/USB system further includes a flat wing that has a trailing-edge slot and a rounded trailing edge. The trailing-edge slot is placed adjacent and along the rounded trailing edge. The trailing-edge slot discharges pressurized air over the rounded trailing edge. The pressurized air that is discharged over the rounded trailing edge remains attached to the rounded trailing edge by balancing reduced static pressure with centrifugal force of a curving jet. The pressurized air produces negative pressure (suction) along the rounded trailing edge. When the flattened thrust stream passes over the upper surface of the rounded trailing edge, it is entrained into the pressurized air and is deflected, which provides a thrust deflection (and even a thrust reversal) and the associated high lift.
A related concept employing the Circulation Control Wing (CCW) alone was also developed earlier than the CCW/USB system. This CCW is typically a flat wing that employs a slot blowing tangentially over a rounded or near-round trailing edge similar to the CCW/USB system, but without the engine and exhaust nozzle located on the wing's upper surface. This CCW alone uses jet turning to entrain the wing's flow field and augment its circulation lift. It also can employ a leading-edge slot blowing to keep the wing leading edge flow field from separating and also to control the airfoil/wing pitching moment.
From the above, it can be appreciated that it would be desirable to have an improved Channel Wing aircraft that eliminates many of the asymmetry, aircraft control, efficiency (lift/drag ratio), and flow separation problems which were found to be inherent in the original Channel Wing configuration, particularly taking advantage of the Circulation Control (CC) Wing and CCW/USB system technology. Also, a means to control all the aerodynamic moments for this aircraft operating at very low flight speeds is quite desirable.